As it is usually said globalization means several different things to different people. It refers to eating McDonalds in Pakistan, listening to western music in the Far East countries and wearing American jeans in south Asian countries. But for hundred of thousands of children and women it means being brought into sex trade through trafficking. The number seems to increase with the passage of time. The eastern society intermingles with the east or meets the western society through sex trafficking.
The statistics of researchers show that globalization has had a tremendous impact on increase in sex trafficking in various ways. Sex trafficking is international as well as domestic.
Contrary to the west where prostitution is generally assumed to be voluntary, women in South East Asian countries are deceived into becoming prostitutes. Women and even children are duped into the sex trade by offering them and their parents’ economic opportunities abroad. The children are kidnapped and trafficked to the richer countries. It also includes a large number of runaway children. In other cases the parents are deceived into thinking that that their children will be working in domestic labor in a foreign country with a good pay. Parents afflicted with poverty and heavy burden of a huge family or loan tend to fall into the trap of traffickers. Parents of young girls are lured tactfully by agents into falser promises of a better life abroad. Young women often below the age of eighteen tired of living in poverty agree to become sex workers not for fun or any liking but to earn something in order to live and get by. Economic instability, poverty, lack of education serves to increase these numbers.
Such women and children are trafficked from smaller and poor countries to rich and wealthier countries. This results in the creation of networks that operate internationally through the illegal transport of women and children for sex trade. Where by local and regional criminal groups in collaboration of international traffickers set up an international network of trafficking women and child sex workers. The internet facilitates such trade. For example 40,000 thousand pornographic photos of children mostly from South East Asia can be found on the net. Many migrants often below the age of 18 fall prey to these trafficking networks.
Prostitution in south East Asian countries received a tremendous boost when the U.S. established military bases in the south East Asia during the Vietnam War. Even though these military bases were dismantled later, prostitution continued to spread in other different semblances. It took the form of sex tourism. International customers started flocking to several parts of south East Asia to indulge in sexual practices. These places provide them with cheap sex. The demand for women and children in the sex trade in these places is great and seems to increase every year. People travel to this region to have sex with children and women. Child pornography on the internet serves to increase this demand. For many westerners who are in pursuit of child sex workers, these places provide them a safe haven to pursue their desires with impunity. Laws in these places are weakly implemented and not effective as compared to laws in the west. Criminals indulge in these activities without any fear of prosecution. It can be said that childhood is bought
and sold to these foreigners. Hundreds of websites on the net are present which have a large number of clients who are ordering brides; “mail order brides”. Rich People can order women from different places of the world for marriage. The internet has facilitated such trade by providing access to such information. These websites are loaded with pictures of eligible women accompanied by their bio-data. The easy use of credit cards also ensures a smooth transaction in such business activities.
Increased economic globalization is another important factor that contributes to increase in sex trafficking.
A report in New York Times says that CIA reported “45,000 to 50,000 women are imported illegally into the U.S. every year for the purpose of trafficking.” A large number of these women are trafficked from the poorer nations mostly from south Asia and south East Asia to satisfy the lust of the wealthier people. Other estimates suggest that about 700,000 people are trafficked every year. They cross international borders and are brought as far way from the Far East to the west. This massive trafficking has resulted in the formation of an ever expanding international criminal enterprise. The reasons behind the increasing number of victims of sex trafficking are undoubtedly the effects of globalization which has served to create a massive demand for sex traders and ensured ways to provide ways for the transits of these trafficking victims. The menace of sex trafficking can be better understood and tackled much more efficiently if the multitude of forms that sex trafficking takes internationally are studied at depth and analyzed. The problem is global not just regional or local. So attempts to dismantle the networks that employ sex trafficking must be made globally. At one place the global markets serve to increase sex trafficking. While on the other, advancement in technology such as internet, airplanes and telecommunication allow these criminals to form a broader and efficient network that operates from international level down to regional and local level; where international culprits can collide effectively with local criminal groups to successfully facilitate sex trafficking
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